Use of and applications for Internet-related networks, and in particular the so-called "World Wide Web" ("Web"), increases daily. The Web is a network of computer information storage sites, and each site can include one or more information displays, colloquially referred to as "pages". Essentially, a Web site presents advertising or other information regarding a particular organization. A person with a computer and a software system referred to as a "browser" can connect the computer to the Internet (and, hence, to the Web), usually via a telephone line, and with the aid of the browser, access the various Web pages.
It happens that among the many applications of the Web, for various reasons one computer user might desire to discuss a particular Web page or pages with another computer user who is remote from the first user. Accordingly, the users establish communication with each other, and then both log their computers onto the Web. Then, both must access the Web page they desire to discuss by retrieving (colloquially referred to as "downloading") all of the information on the desired Web page to their respective computers.
To download a Web page, a user must either input the page's address, referred to in the art as the uniform resource locator or simply URL, or the user must select the page via a hyperlink from another Web page. Stated differently, a Web page may list many other Web pages that happen to be related to it, with the listings referred to as "hyperlinks", and a user can position a mouse-controlled cursor over a hyperlink and click the mouse to cause the user's browser to access the Web page associated with the selected hyperlink.
Unfortunately, it can be confusing and frustrating for two computer users who are communicating with each other via telephone (or some other means) to coordinate the desired Web page rendezvous. This is in part because, to download a Web page, a large amount of data must ordinarily be transferred at rates that can vary, computer to computer, potentially resulting in idle periods for one user as the other user completes a download. Furthermore, a user's verbal identification of a particular hyperlink on which the user desires another user to "click" can be unclear and ambiguous. As recognized by the present invention, however, it is possible to provide a system and method for allowing a first computer user, referred to herein as a "pilot", to cause the browsers of other computer users, referred to herein as "passengers", to display Web pages as desired by the pilot, without requiring interaction from the passengers and without requiring any modifications to the passengers' software.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for allowing a first computer user to cause the network browser of a second computer user to present Web pages as desired by the first user. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for causing, from a local computer, one or more Web pages to be displayed on remote computers, without requiring remote user interaction. Still another object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-use, cost-effective system and method for remotely causing a passenger computer Web browser to display Web pages selected by a pilot computer, without requiring software changes to the passenger computer, other than the temporary loading of an applet. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for causing, from a local computer, one or more Web pages to be displayed on remote computers, while presenting a status of the remote computer displays to the user of the local computer.